


One of Them Girls

by Queerbutstillhere



Series: Country Roads Take Me Home [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Small Town, F/F, a bit of a slowburn, also i might edit the summar later whoops, cissiecassie, farm au, farmboy conner, horse girl cassie, horse girl cissie, i love this au, this is based off of acidulication's farm au, this is my first fic for them and i'm so excited!, tim's just a mess tbh, trans bart, wonderette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26069194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queerbutstillhere/pseuds/Queerbutstillhere
Summary: Cassandra Sandsmark has lived on a horse farm for nearly her whole life, spending her free time running around with her best friend, Bart Allen. When Cissie King-Jones and her mother move to Smallville with their three horses, Cassie finds herself inexplicably drawn to this closed off, preppy girl.AKA that one where Cassie is a hopeless horse girl lesbian
Relationships: Bart Allen & Cassie Sandsmark, Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent & Cassie Sandsmark, Cissie King-Jones/Cassie Sandsmark
Series: Country Roads Take Me Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892494
Comments: 18
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acidulication](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidulication/gifts).



> Hi everyone! I am so super excited to finally be able to post this fic! i have been working on this since May, but life happened and I hadn't been able to finish it or proof it. But here it is!
> 
> As I said in the tags, this fic, and hopefully subsequent ones in this series, is based off of Nostra(Acidulication)'s farm au! Please please go look at their tag on tumblr, it's so good!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this fic!

Cassie! I need you to get down here!”

Cassie groaned, rolling and shoving her face into her pillow. Her alarm had gone off a few minutes ago, but she had been hoping to sleep in. It was summer break, what cruel monster makes a teenager year old wake up at 7am during summer break? Oh yeah, horse people do.

“Cassandra!”

With a hefty sigh that Cassie wished her mother had heard, she pushed up off the bed in order to sit up and stretch, her back popping a few times. It was a pretty morning, she could tell. Sun was landing on the floor in warm beams, and birds were chirping happily outside. A light breeze was coming through the open windows, causing her curtains to ruffle in the wind, and she could hear the occasional car as people headed off to their various workplaces. With a yawn, Cassie threw off her sheets and stepped out of her warm soft bed onto the disgustingly warm wood floors. She meandered her way over to the windows first, sliding them shut to keep the cool night air in and the hot summer out. Then she turned to figure out what she needed to wear today.

It was always a good question. What had her mom planned for the day? Was she working riding, was she handwalking, was she supervising the jockeys as they trained? Cassie never really knew, but she did know that she had stable hand duties today, so she figured jeans would be the best option. A pair of denim bootcut jeans, an old cutoff t-shirt and a flannel was her outfit of choice for the day. She stopped in front of the mirror, grabbing a brush and roughly yanking it through her unruly blonde hair until it was tamed enough that she could pull it up into a high ponytail, then she grabbed a baseball cap and pulled that on. She grabbed the tall socks she’d need for her boots, then headed out, stopping to use the bathroom before jogging downstairs to see what her mom needed.

“Morning, Ma,” Cassie called, as she entered the kitchen.

“Good morning, Cassie.”

Helena Sandsmark was standing in front of the stove, frying an egg. Cassie went straight to the pantry, grabbing her favorite cereal. Helena glanced over at her, staying silent for now. Her brown hair was pulled back in a braid and she was wearing breeches and a polo sunshirt, knee high socks pulled up over her riding breeches.

“What’s up?” Cassie asked, reaching for a bowl, then dumping a bunch of cereal into it, cereal before milk, you monsters.

“We have the vet coming out today.”

“Oh shit, you right.”

“Cassandra,” came the gentle reprimand, then Helena immediately moved on. “I have a meeting at ten, and I don’t know if I’m going to get done in time to deal with the vet, I’m trusting you to be there.”

“What time? And who’s ya meeting with?”

“He planned to be here around 11:30, but said that might change depending on his other clients, you know how it goes. He’s going to be checking the weanlings.”

“Yeah, of course.” Cassie replaced the milk in the fridge before turning back to her mom and repeating her question. “Who is your meeting with?”

“Mrs. King-Jones.”

Cassie sat there for a moment, silently munching on her Life cereal as she tried to recall the name. King-Jones was familiar. . . . why did she know that name?

“Her and her daughter have moved to Smallville, and she’s wanting to board their horses here. “

Cassie frowned. They did do some boarding, but it wasn’t really their big income source. Sure, they had a giant boarding stable, but that mostly just had their personal horses and whatever horse Cassie was training at the time - there weren’t many people in Smallville that actually boarded their horses. This was a farm area, after all; most people just kept their horses on property. 

“How many do they have?”

“Three. A thoroughbred, a warmblood and a retired Quarter.”

“Retired? Why would they ship a retired horse all the way down here?”

“I didn’t ask, none of our business, Cassie.”

“I guess . . . “ Cassie continued munching away. And then the name hit her. “King-Jones! That’s that jumper girl!”

Helena gave her an amused look.

“Yes, Bonnie’s daughter does show jumping, do you know of her?”

“A lil, she had a pretty popular instagram.”

Helena hummed, by now she had finished her food, so she stood, putting her plate in the dishwasher and finishing her coffee quickly.

“Well, vet is here at 11:30. I’ll see you around.”

Cassie watched her mom walk out the door before pulling out her phone, checking her texts. There was a very interesting conversation from Bart and Tim in the groupchat that had happened at . . . 1am. Cassie sighed in annoyance and typed a quick response before looking at her social media as she quickly finished her cereal. 

Once she had brushed her teeth and put on some sunscreen, Cassie pulled on her boots and grabbed her gloves from the mudroom before starting the hike out to the barns. She’d start in the boarding barn, then head over to the thoroughbred barn since there were a million more of them, and beside there were other stable hands to help her with that barn that’d get here at eight. She loved her horses. She always called the boarded horses hers, because her mom didn’t really care about that aspect of the business. They were Cassie’s responsibility - she did the work, she got a good portion of the pay for it, on top of the training business she had on the side. She set her phone on one of the walls, playing music as she did each of the daily chores, humming to herself and talking with the horses.

Cassie had been in Smallville her whole life, and she had lived on this ranch for as long as she could remember. There had been ups and downs, days when Helena was mean and snappy due to stress, because breeding and training horses is not a stable business, and there’d been days when Helena had disappeared for auctions or races or whatever the excuse of the day was. Cassie had learned to take care of herself at a young age, as well as her horses. Things had always been a little rough with Helena. Cassie’s conception had not been intentional, and she was well aware of this, it had been rather rudely mentioned in a few arguments. Helena was generally pretty closed off, wasn’t good at communicating or telling Cassie how she felt unless she was mad or disappointed, which happened a lot during Cassie’s childhood, as her mother always held her to painfully high expectations. So high that not even Helena met them half the time.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Cassie fed all their boarders, giving their different amounts of supplement and grain, or whatever it was their owners wanted them fed. She got each horse out one by one, put on their different fly gear, masks, boots, sheets or spray, according to owner preference, then walked them out to the turn out pastures, letting them loose to eat grass, and checking water for each grass lot. Once all the horses were turned out, she cleaned out their stalls, and then worked the little quarter horse she was training currently. He was a cute little black gelding, who she was going to be putting out on the pasture at night with their few other black horses to prevent them from bleaching in the sun. 

Her day was fairly average; she did the rest of her chores, helped the vet with the weanlings, made sure they were healthy and on the right track, spent the early part of her afternoon cleaning tack and then doing house chores. Then around three, Bart showed up, flinging the door open and loudly announcing his presence by screaming Cassie’s name.

“CAASSSAANDDRRAAA!”

Cassie winced, muting the tv and looking towards the kitchen. “BART!” She yelled back.

The bundle of energy and chaos that was Cassie’s best friend came running from around the corner, practically jumping on her and hugging her tightly.

“AH!” Cassie screamed as she got pulled down on top of him on the sofa, Bart koala hugging her.

“Hi!”

“Hi, Bart,” Cassie responded with a laugh. 

Bart Allen had been Cassie’s best friend since preschool. He was this tiny bundle of energy, and always had been. They had been through so much together, and they were practically inseparable. Bart had this huge shock of vibrant red hair that was poofy and tangled as hell, and he was covered head to toe in freckles. He wore bright colors and fun clothes and worn shoes and bracelets. He always had hair clips and bandaids on some part of his body. Today he was still wearing his mail uniform: yellow button up, jean shorts, paired with mismatched bright socks that stuck up past his converse. His various buttons and pins were pressing into Cassie’s chest a little painfully.

“Do you have any food? I just got done with work and I’m  _ starving _ .”

“No, I ate it all.”

A horrified gasp exited Bart and he pushed her away to look up at her, looking like she had just kicked a puppy right in front of him.

“You monster!”

Cassie laughed, shaking her head and standing. “Come on, you dork, what do you want?”

“I don’t know, what do you have!?”

Bart skipped after her into the kitchen. They ended up making pb&j’s, Bart sitting on the kitchen counter, letting his heels bounce against the cabinets. Cassie watched him silently, trying to gauge his mood for the day. He was humming happily as he ate, doing this little thing where he kind of danced/wiggled a bit as he ate. He only did that when he was really happy or just  _ really _ liked whatever food it was he was eating. 

“Good day?” Cassie asked experimentally. 

“Yeah! I got to pet so many dogs and I didn’t have any issues on my route and Ms. Prince gave me some cookies!” Bart told her, talking around food, which drove Cassie insane, but she didn’t yell at him.

“And you didn’t save me any?!”

Bart immediately looked distraught. “I’m sorry!! I should’ve!!”

Cassie just grinned and shook her head. “You’re fine, Bart.”

He pouted at her, but shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

“What about you?” He mumbled out, jumping off the counter to get a cup and pour himself some lemonade from the fridge. 

“What?”

“Your day?”

“Oh it was fine, I did chores, worked some of the horses, had the vet out, so on. Mom had an interview with a new potential boarder who wanted to see the facilities.”

“Really, who?”

“Some lady named Mrs. King-Jones.”

“OH! She’s nice, well. . . er. . . a little rude, but she’s from out of town. They just moved into that old gothic style house on the edge of town?”

“North side?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. How long ago?”

“Two or three weeks maybe? They bought the house a LOoNNgggG time ago though,” Bart told her, reaching up to grab a hair clip off the collar of his shirt and then pushed his hair back and clipped it in place.

“ ‘Parently they have three horses. I know her daughter does show jumping.”

“Really? Maybe you’ll get along,” Bart suggested, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning mischievously.

“Bart Allen, don’t you dare start with me.”

Bart laughed happily, giving her an innocent look. “Whaaat? You don’t wanna date a cute horse girl?”

“Shut up!” Cassie laughed. 

“Okay okay, come on! I wanna go see the ponieessss. My childdreeenn!”

Cassie just shook her head fondly, tossing her flannel off, and then walking to hit the button for the garage door. They had a UTV for getting back and forth from the barn, but Helena usually took it. She was gone in town right now, so it was available for their use. They hopped in and Cassie started it up, driving them down to the pastures. Of all of her friends, Bart loved the horses the most. He had this amazing bond with Cassie’s old pony, Cracker (short for Fire Cracker, but Cassie named all her horses after a type of food), a little fiesty appaloosa pony. Once she parked the UTV, Bart hopped the fence and walked over to Cracker, who was munching along peacefully. The pony picked up his head and nickered softly when he realized it was Bart. Cassie smiled, leaning against the steering wheel and watching her best friend.

Bart was like a brother to her. They were both only children, so it made sense that they had been so instantly close, with no one else to entertain them. She worried about him some days, but he was a fairly happy kid, and when he wasn’t happy, she could instantly tell. She was good at reading her friends, and Bart especially. He hadn’t had a great childhood, his parents had died when he was very little, and he had come into the custody of his uncle Barry, who was a very nice man, just not ready to be a guardian. Bart had fallen into this state of feeling overlooked and neglected, and feeling like he was an inconvenience and a burden, as he bounced between Barry’s house and their neighbour’s, the Garrick’s, who had ended up becoming like grandparents to Bart. Things were better now, but Cassie remembered the night’s Bart had spent at her house, just rambling and exposing more then he really ever intended to, but Cassie had listened and hugged and comforted him and had always done her best to make it clear that he was always welcome with her, wherever they are.

Bart ended up staying for dinner, and then helped Cassie with the evening chores, which mostly meant he helped fill feed pans, and then brush down horses when they got back in, but Cassie always enjoyed his help. He would sit nearby on hay bales or tack boxes and sing along to Cassie’s music, or chatter endlessly about his most recent interests or random things he had seen while he was on his mail route, or where he wanted to take Tim skating next. It was nice, and Cassie loved just hearing him, hearing him be happy. It made her happy.

By the time they got done with chores and started heading back to the house, the sun was setting. 

“Oh shoot,” Bart muttered. “I didn’t realize how late it had gotten.”

“I’ll drive you back, go throw your bike in the truck.”

“Cassie, you are the best!” Bart exclaimed, running off to get his bike. Cassie laughed, parking the UTV inside the garage and then stepping into the house, going to get her flannel and her wallet.

“Mom! I’m going to drive Bart back home! I’ll be back later!”

“Okay, Cassie, don’t stay out too late!”

"Yeah!" Cassie yelled back, grabbing the keys to the truck and then heading out to the garage again, where Bart was just finishing shoving his bike inside. 

"Okay! Let's go!"

"Got your bag?"

"Yup! It's in the cab!"

Cassie nodded and walked around to the drivers side, getting in and starting the truck. Bart ran over and hopped into the passenger seat, quickly buckling his seatbelt and then immediately leaned forwards to adjust the radio while Cassie backed out and started down their fairly long gravel driveway. They didn't get very far down the road before Bart had stolen Cassie's hand, fingers intertwined, thumb tapping quickly against the back of her hand. His hands were so small compared to hers.

"Sometimes," Bart said softly, looking out the window at the sunset. "I wonder what life would be like, without you guys. Outside of Smallville, I mean. And . . . I don't think I would like it very much."

Cassie hummed curiously, wondering if he would go on. But he didn't, falling silent, his head hitting the window with a soft thunk. Cassie just chuckled to herself, letting her thumb run along Bart's as she focused out the windshield. 

They reached Bart's house, and she helped him get his bike out, helped him stash it in the garage, and then hugged him goodbye. She walked back to the truck slowly, glancing back to make sure Bart made it inside. He had just shut the door and turned to wave from the other side. She chuckled and waved back, before going and heading home, ready to crash in bed for a good nights sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so basically this fic is just me going "I grew up with horses my whole life, I know what's up." And my beta going "WHAT THE FUCK DOES ALL THESE TERMS MEAN" because she's a city slicker. Love her tho <3
> 
> This fic has been a long term project of mine and I'm so happy to finally share it! There may be other fics in this series, in this farm au, but I don't know what will happen, as far as my schedule, so no promises!
> 
> Also some of these chapters are shorter then others, and I don't know what my schedule will look like so far, so keep an eye/ear out, and those post notifs on!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Im finally here to feed the gays. Enjoy!

A week later, Cassie met the King-Jones' for the first time. Their horses were getting shipped down that weekend, and they wanted to check out the stalls to make sure everything was in order and to discuss their feeding with Cassie, despite the _very_ detailed email she had gotten. They had three horses, a thoroughbred named Jax (short for Jack's Lucky Stars), a warmblood named Blue Heaven, and a registered Quarter Horse they called Spud. They had provided Cassie enough information that she had a small file on them (she always collected these, in case of theft or emergency) and she had their meal plans all written out.

They came by after dinner, around six, and Cassie was already down at the barn, brushing out her horse, Sundae, when they got there. She heard someone calling out a greeting and perked up, stepping back from the horse to get a better view down the aisle.

"I'm over here!" She called out, setting down her brushes.

Two women rounded the corner, glancing around and then walking towards her when they saw her. 

"Hello!" The older one called.

"Howdy!" Cassie said, with a smile, wiping her hand off on a rag before stepping out and offering her hand to shake.

"I'm Bonnie King-Jones, this is my daughter Cissie," the woman introduced, shaking her hand.

"I'm Cassie Sandsmark, it's nice to meet ya, ma'am."

"And you! Who's this beautiful creature?" Bonnie asked, stepping around Cassie to let Sundae smell her.

"Oh. That's Sundae, she's mine, I was just getting ready to saddle up."

Bonnie hummed, gently rubbing Sundae's nose. She was a little shorter than Cassie, short blonde hair in a 'may I speak to your manager' haircut, with bright blue eyes. She was wearing a light pink blouse and a pair of jeans. But her daughter is who Cassie was focusing on. Cissie was also a few inches shorter, nowhere near Bart's shortness, but still a little shorter then Cassie herself. She was thin and curvy, wearing short shorts that showed off pale, smooth muscular legs, and one of those tanktop crop top things that just really showed off her muscular upper body. She was absolutely stunning, heart shaped face, full pink lips, bright blue eyes like her mother. Her light blonde(possibly bleached) hair, fell down around her shoulders in curls. 

Cassie probably should stop staring now, but alas. 

"So, we just wanted to check on everything and get it all in order?"

Cassie snapped her gaze back over to Bonnie, who was still petting her horse.

"Right!" Cassie exclaimed, her accent pitching a little harsher than usual. "Let me just…."

She turned and grabbed a lead rope, clipping it to Sundae's halter and then undoing the crossties. She led the mare to her stall, taking off her halter and then sliding the door shut. She hung up the halter then turned to the two women.

"Right, so your stalls are just down here," she said, turning and walking down the aisle. 

The barn was laid out so that there was a dressage size riding arena in the middle, then two sections of stalls on either side, with stalls against the arena wall, and stalls on the outside wall. The King-Jones' stalls were just down the aisle from Cassie's horses, all on one side. Each stall had already been filled with sawdust, and had empty water buckets and empty feed troughs, ready for their horsey tenants. 

"It's up to y'all who you put in what stall, and if you ever want to switch them up, let me know, but we'll put their names on these signs here," Cassie explained, tapping the laminated signs under the barred stall windows. 

Bonnie spent a few minutes checking the stalls out, running her hand along the metal bars, checking for sharp points. Cissie didn't seem terribly interested. Cassie was starting to wonder if this city looking girl really even rode.

"This looks great," Bonnie told her with a smile.

"I'm glad! The feed room and tack room is just down this way."

Next Cassie took them into the feed room, showing them the whiteboard that had their feeding plan, as well as the plastic tote that contained the feed bags she had already gotten for them. Bonnie seemed really pleased with this. 

"And the tack room, you got the code in your email, right?"

"Yes."

Cassie nodded and punched in the code, opening it and stepping into the huge tack room.

"Okay, so, y'all have three lockers," Cassie said, pointing them out. "Numbers correspond with your stalls numbers, you can put your own locks on them if ya want. There's also room over here for tack boxes."

"This is great, Cassie, thank you."

Cassie ended the little tour by taking them around the farm, talking them through the different facilities they had available to the boarders, and then explained their care routines once more. This whole time, Cissie didn't seem at all interested, but she kept giving Cassie curious looks. 

"Well, thank you for meeting us, I'll keep you updated on the arrival times!" Bonnie said, shaking Cassie's hand.

"Alrighty! That'd be much appreciated."

"Have a nice evening, Ms. Sandsmark."

"Thank ya, you two, Mrs. King-Jones." Cassie looked over at Cissie. "Miss King-Jones."

"Cissie is fine," she said, speaking to Cassie for the first time that evening. Her voice was soft, with a definite northern accent.

They left that evening, and Cassie found herself continuing to think about the pretty blonde as she worked barrels with Sundae. 

Saturday night, at 9pm, the King-Jones' horses arrived. They came in this big horse truck, that was packed full of straw. Bart was spending the night, so he was standing just slightly behind Cassie, watching everything with wide eyes. The drivers walked them down the ramp, and despite the low light, Cassie was amazed by what she was looking at. The Quarter Horse came off first, he was a big bay, chunky, clearly from his retired life, but he was so handsome. He nickered nervously and danced a bit as he waited for his friends to get unloaded, and Cassie ended up holding this one, gently petting his head and murmuring softly to soothe him, Bart was gently stroking his big neck, lightly holding onto Cassie's arm with one hand.

The next horse off was another bay, this one clearly a thoroughbred, she too pranced and nickered nervously (fetching returning concerned nickers from across the drive where the night turn-outs were grazing). Bonnie took this one from the driver, murmuring softly to her, petting her and walking her in a small circle. The last horse off was the one that really took Cassie's breath away. He was a big warmblood, grey with beautiful dapples, his mane and tail both braided back. He held his head high, and snorted lightly, but seemed fairly calm otherwise.

They hand walked the horses for a bit while their various tack got unloaded from the trunk, and then took the horses into the barn, tying them up to brush them out before putting them in their stalls. Bonnie went to start packing away their tack along with Helena, leaving the two girls and Bart to brush.

"Bartie, can you grab me the hoofpick please?"

Bart's response was a chipper "yup," and then he was cautiously ducking around the quarter horse to give Cassie the purple handled hoof pick. She glanced back at Cissie as she worked, using her tool to get dirt and rocks out of the hooves.

"So, are any of these yours?" She asked the fellow blonde.

"Blue is. The dapple," Cissie responded softly and a little coldly, motioning at the warmblood in his stall and was munching on some hay, eyeing his new surroundings.

"He's gorgeous. Is he a jumper?"

"Yeah."

"How old is he?"

"Eight."

Cassie hummed and shot Bart a mildly annoyed look as she crossed to the side he was on. Bart giggled at her, but returned to focusing on gently brushing Spud's face.

"Why is this guy called Spud?" Bart asked, leaning to look at Cissie.

"I don't know. Why are you called Bart? He's just always been called that," Cissie snapped.

"Hey, now," Cassie warned, voice getting dangerous. 

"Sorry, I'm just tired."

Cassie sighed and shook her head, undoing the crossties and taking Spud into his stall. The horse walked in, turned around a few times, and then laid down in the thick sawdust, trying to roll a bit. Bart giggled as he leaned against the stall wall to watch.

"He's funny. I like him."

Cissie didn’t comment, just focused on finishing brushing out the thoroughbred. Bart came back to Cassie, grabbing her hand instinctively and leaning into her shoulder as he yawned tiredly.

“Why don’t you go back up to the house?” Cassie asked softly, looking down at him.

“And walk all the way back in the dark by myself? I do not think so.”

Cassie snorted and shook her head, glancing up as Cissie led the last horse into his stall and slid it shut. She glanced over at them, gaze lingering for a few seconds before she turned and walked to the tack store room, disappearing inside.

“Man, she’s icy.”

“I don’t know what her deal is.”

“Maybe she’s just intimidated by how beautiful you are.” Bart grinned up at her.

“Oh, shut up, Allen,” Cassie said with a snort, elbowing him. 

Bart laughed and let Cassie drag him down the aisle to check on her horses, splitting off to go coo at Cracker. 

“Okay, well, everything seems to be in order.”

Cassie glanced up as she heard the people behind her talking. The three women had exited the tack room, and Helena was locking it behind her.

“What time do you think you’ll be out in the morning, Cassandra?” Helena asked, looking over at her daughter.

“Uh, eight, eight thirty, maybe? I’ll give ya a text when I see how they’re doing.”

“That would be perfect.”

“He might not eat much,” Cissie said suddenly, leaning against the bars of Blue Heaven’s stall, looking in. “He doesn’t eat well the first day of traveling. If he hasn’t eaten by evening, put some molasses or applesauce in his feed and he’ll gobble it right down.”

“Oh. Well, thank ya!” Cassie said, mildly surprised by this sudden show of interest by the usually detached girl.

Cissie just hummed coldly, reached in and patted Blue’s shoulder and then turned and walked out of the barn. Bonnie chuckled.

“She’s a little tired. Anyway, we may come by tomorrow, just to check on them.”

“Okay! The barn will be open from 8 to 8, or whenever I get done with the evening chores.”

“Okay, thank you!”

Bonnie turned and walked out, chatting with Helena as she went. Cassie stood there silently, then looked down at Bart.

“Can we go binge watch Riverdale now?” Bart said, yawning as he grabbed her arm, pulling on her.

“Yeah, yeah,” She said, laughing. 

They locked up the barn, and then rode back in the UTV with Helena.

“Well, don’t stay up too late, you two,” Helena said, as she locked the house doors. “Goodnight.”

“Night, mom.”

“Night, Ms. Sandsmark!”

Bart and Cassie got their snacks and fell onto the couch, piled in blankets, the lights all turned off as they stayed up until 1am just to watch tv. Bart ended up falling asleep on Cassie’s chest, but she didn’t mind, silently playing with his hair until she too fell asleep.

The next day they were going to their friend Conner’s house for sunday lunch. Only it really wasn’t his house, it was his grandparents’ house, but lord knows he spends just as much, if not more, time at his grandparents’ then he does at his parents house. Cassie woke up first, her phone chirping out her sunday 7:45am alarm, and vibrating annoyingly on the coffee table. She groaned in annoyance and reached for it, feeling her body complain that she had fallen asleep on the sofa, with a 5’4”, 120 teenage boy laying on top of her. That, and her left arm was asleep. She silenced her phone and then began the work of slowly moving Bart Allen off of her and onto the sofa, carefully pushing him off and then placing him in her empty space. 

She stretched with a sigh, looked down at yesterday’s sweatpants and t-shirt before shrugging and walking to the kitchen, yawning as she rubbed her eyes. She grabbed an apple from the fridge, washing it off quickly and then heading to the backroom, using the small bathroom back there before pulling on her boots and a jacket, grabbing her gloves and a hat and driving down to the barn. It took her nearly an hour to do chores, with the added three horses. She had been asked to not let them out to pasture for the first few days, but to use the walker to get them stretched. So she slowly walked them out, one by one, to the horse walker, asking one of the stable hands for the racing barns to keep an eye on them while she cleaned out their stalls and filled their various buckets, going to get them after their stalls were prepared.

By the time she got back inside, Bart was still asleep, so she went and took a shower before coming down to find her mom starting breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon.

“He’s still quite the sleeper, huh?” Helena said, motioning with her head back towards the living room.

“It’s the only time he stays still. And even then not really.”

Cass hummed, starting to make coffee for her and Helena. Bart had given up drinking it a long time ago, as it didn’t give him the caffeine boost he wanted, and mixing the caffeine with his ADHD medication usually just ended up giving him heavily increased side effects. But Cassie and Helena needed it like they needed air. 

“Are you two still going to Martha’s?” Helena asked, glancing over to her daughter.

“Yeah. Around 11:30.”

“What time will you be back?”

“I dunno, we hadn’t set a time, I was kinda thinking we would hang out over there for most of the afternoon, maybe go to Tim’s to swim.”

Helena scowled at her eggs, and Cassie braced herself for either the Disappointed Mom™ voice or some gaslighting sentence. 

“I was wanting your help halter breaking that new colt.”

Cassie looked at Helena with a scowl. Helena very rarely, if ever, actually broke colts herself, she paid three different trainers for that reason.

“Why.”

“Because I was-”

“No. Why are you doing it?”

“I want to retire Lyssa within the next few years and was thinking of making this colt into-”

“He’s perfectly good breeding stock, ma, why would you-”

“Cassie, I know that.”

“But it’d be downright dumb to castarate him, he’s a gorgeous foal and-”

“Cassandra!”

Cassie clenched her jaw and spun on her heel, reaching into the fridge and digging out her favorite creamer and then grabbing a mug from the fridge.

“If you would have _let me finish_. You would’ve heard that I was planning to replace Rice with him, and get Rice castrated.”

“But Rice still has a few more years-”

“I know that. I’m not going to do anything until the colt has finished his racing career.”

“Then why are you breaking him.”

Helena gave Cassandra a dry look, and Cassie decided she was going to drop it, turning and walking into the living room to wake Bart up.

“Bart, come on, you gotta wake up,” Cassie called, setting her coffee down and then gently shaking his shoulder. 

Bart grumbled in complaint and buried his face further into the sofa cushion. Cassie really didn’t understand how he was comfortable right now.

“Barttttttt.”

After several minutes of annoying the teen, he grumbled and picked up his head, glaring at her.

“You are the bane of my existence.”

“I am not and you know it.”

Bart snorted, shaking his head as he sat up and rubbed at his eyes.

“Ooh. Do I smell bacon?”

“Yeah. Mom’s cooking.”

“Oh sweet. Your mom is the best.”

“Charles Manson.”

“Oh shit.”

Was it cold to compare Cassie’s mother to a criminal and cult leader? Yeah, a little. But that was their code word for Helena being manipulative and it was a little too late to change it. This name had come about after a particular lesson their favorite teacher, Ms. Diana Prince, had given them about cults and cult leaders, that had steadily turned more political than historical, but Cassie and Bart hadn’t been mad about it. It was a quick way to tell Bart to watch his mouth and avoid interaction with Helena when possible.

After a quick breakfast that they ate on the porch, away from Helena, who was watching the news, they went upstairs to get dressed, Bart pulling out some nice clothes from his bag. Ma Kent had a ‘sunday best’ rule for their sunday dinners. She didn’t make any of the kids go to church with them, she never had, but she made it clear they were always welcome to come with her and Pa, and beyond that, she made it exceptionally clear that they were loved and accepted in her home, and that should she ever treat them negatively for being themselves, she had probably been abducted by aliens or replaced by the government. Ma Kent was an ally through and through and everyone loves her like their own grandmother. Cassie changed into a nice pair of jeans and a nice purple blouse, back turned to give Bart some privacy as he struggled with his binder, getting it situated properly. When she turned around, Bart was wearing khaki shorts and a bright pink button up. Around 11:20, they went downstairs, got their shoes on, got in Cassie’s truck and drove to the Kent’s farm.

The Kent farm was huge, the whole property itself was damn well nearing a mile, but that was mostly farm or pasture land. That wasn’t even including the other farm property they owned or rented. There were two houses on this property, Ma and Pa’s house, often called the homestead for sake of convenience, and then Clark and Lois’ house, which was across the huge garden and orchard that was in the middle of the property. There were several barns on the property, and it was a miracle anyone remembered what was in which barn. The Kent’s had every farm animal you could think of, and probably even more, unless you yourself are from one of those families that has an obsession with collecting animals. You name it, they had it. Cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, yes they even had an alpaca, as well as a various assortment of birds and rabbits.

They pulled into the parking lot of the homestead, Bart jumping out and running through the door before Cassie could even really get her seatbelt undone. She just laughed and slid out of the truck, barely bothering to grab her keys before following him inside, not locking the truck as she walked in, kicking off her boots by the door in the mudroom and then following the flash of red hair that was Bart into the kitchen. There was already a clamour of voices from inside, and Cassie smiled as she heard a familiar, deep laugh.

“It’s good to see you too, Bart!”

She rounded the corner to find three teenagers and a beaming Martha Kent in the kitchen. Martha Kent herself was the image of a grandmother, short white hair, not quite thinning yet, but close, a warm, friendly face, creased by smile lines, crows feet and wrinkles that showed her age more than anything else. Today she was wearing a blue sundress with multi-colored flowers, covered by a white and black apron. Standing next to her at the stove was her grandson, Conner Kent, who was currently being hugged from behind by Bart. Conner was tall and muscular and the living stereotype of a farm boy. He had fairly wide shoulders, large biceps and forearms, but it wasn’t like, hideously muscular. You took one look at him and knew he was a farm boy/football player. His black hair was short and messy, not short enough that it was considered buzzed, but not long enough that it got in his eyes. He had the Kent family blue eyes, and tan skin covered in sun freckles, as well as the classic farmers tan. He was wearing nice slacks and a blue button down, he had probably gone to church with his grandparents.

The fourth human in the kitchen, was one Timothy Drake-Wayne. He was silently sitting on the counter, watching Kon and Bart chittering happily as Kon checked the biscuits in the oven. He was all limbs, noodle limbs as Bart called them, but he was shorter than Cassie and Kon, just barely taller than Bart. He was wearing jeans and a nice gray shirt, a flannel that was probably Kon’s around his shoulders. His black hair was down past his chin (they sometimes called it a mullet as a joke, but really there wasn’t a better way to describe it), with bangs that framed his face. He too had blue eyes, but they were a light, crystal blue, versus Kon’s which were bright and clear, or Cassie’s, which were darker. He wasn’t smiling, and was chewing on his lip, worrying the skin between his teeth, his hand absently rubbing over his forearm as he listened to his friends.

Cassie walked over, lightly bumping his knee with her hip.

“Hey there, Timbo.”

He looked up at her and smiled softly, the slightest twitch up of his lips that was really a huge grin for him.

“Hi, Cassie,” He told her softly, bumping his knee back into her.

“Cassie!” Kon called, waving as he set a hot pan of rolls down on the counter. 

“Hi, Kon, Hello, Ma!”

“Hello, Cassandra dear,” Ma Kent called, glancing over her shoulder to smile at her.

They all stood in the kitchen and caught up with each other, having not really seen each other since Wednesday evening when they all met up at Tim’s to swim in the evening, as his dad had a huge pool. Bart forced Cassie to tell them about the King-Jones, and Kon immediately started teasing her over it, surprisingly joined by Ma Kent and Tim, grinning and joking that Cassie should ask Cissie out, despite Cassie’s protests that she didn’t even know the girl. Lunch was a wonderful pork roast with roasted potatoes and carrots, along with bacon and apple cider vinegar brussel sprouts.

As always, Ma Kent's cooking was absolutely delightful, and with a blueberry tart and fresh homemade ice cream to finish it off. The four teens slumped into the living room to lay on the sofas and rub their food babies, while Martha and Jonathan laughed at them every time they made a dramatic noise. Lunch hadn't been a very talkative affair, due to everyone being too eager about shoveling food into their mouths, but now Jonathan took advantage of all the kids stuck in one place.

"So, Bart. I hear there's been some changes to the paper routes?"

Bart perked up, lifting his head up off of Cassie's lap to look over at him. "Yes sir! There's been so many new move-ins and builds recently that we had to completely rework the in town routes. So I'm all over the place."

"Are ya still biking everywhere?"

"That or I skate."

Pa Kent hummed, glancing down at his newspaper.

"Do you enjoy doing the routes still? I know you've been doing them for a while now."

"Well, it's not something I'm sure I wanna do for the rest of my life, but, it's a pretty good gig for now. I really do appreciate Barry letting me switch shifts for the summer. More hours means more money."

"My offer is always open," Cassie told him, as he pulled her hand over his side and started messing with her fingers.

She had offered him, years ago, to work as a stable hand, or even a jockey, he was small and light enough.

"I know," Bart answered with a lazy smile.

Cassie glanced up and over towards Tim and Conner, who were sat on the other sofa. Conner's arm was on the back of the sofa, but was not touching Tim, as this was a very natural position for him to assume, one ankle on top of the other knee, the flat leg touching Tim's at the knee, due to how he was turned into Tim to show him a video. Tim was silently watching it, a small smile on his lips. Cassie smiled and nudged Bart, nodding towards them. Everyone knew that Tim and Kon had been skirting around each other for years now, pining and gay as hell, but never doing anything about it, despite all the late night phone calls with Kon that told her he wished it was otherwise.

Bart giggled to himself, glancing up at Cassie and shaking his head softly, before squeezing her hand and letting his eyes close as she played with his hair.

"What about you, Cassandra, y'all getting ready for the fair?"

Cassie looked up at Pa Kent, who had folded his newspaper and was sipping his decaf coffee.

"Yessir. Sundae and I are working nearly daily."

"That's quite the horse," Martha inputted. "I've never seen a proper barrel horse get so calm in a western pleasure ring before."

"She's amazing. I love Cracker, but Sundae is a whole different ballgame."

Martha hummed and nodded. "The boys have been working their animals like crazy. I'd say Kon spends most of his time that he's not working for the farm, walking those cows of his, and Jon's always out there with him."

"They ain't never gonna be halter broke if you don't put the work in," Kon commented, looking up from his phone.

"Yes, and I understand that better than most, but don't you reckon you should spend a little more time with your friends?"

"Maybe, but I never said they couldn't come help."

Bart and Cassie both busted up laughing, and even Tim chuckled a bit. Helping Kon with his county fair projects was worse than pulling horse shoes or teeth. He was very particular about how certain things were done. A control freak, if you please. They had all tried at one point, and learned rather quickly that it was best to just sit and watch if you actually wanted to spend time with Kon while he worked animals.

“Let’s go to the barn!” Bart said suddenly, popping up from his place on the sofa and nearly nailing Cassie in the head. 

They all obliged Bart, and headed down to the main animal barn, Tim immediately splitting off from the rest of them to find the latest batch of kittens. He always knew where they were, mostly because he was here the most of all of them, other then Kon, and Kon didn’t care much about the cats, other than when Tim was around them. Cassie went to pet the calves while Bart and Tim held and cuddled the kittens. She had her own cats, she didn’t need Kon’s.

They spent the rest of the afternoon outside, but tried not to get their clothes too dirty, since they were all wearing pretty nice clothes. They ended up just sitting under this huge maple tree in the grass, Kon laying on his stomach while Bart tried his damn best to braid Tim’s hair and Cassie sat there, idly kicking Kon’s hip, because why not. It was a nice July day, a good summer day. The type of day you saw during the montage of a teen coming of age movie. They were just sitting there chatting about random things, currently discussing something that had happened at school earlier this year with a friend of Kon’s. 

“Are we going to Pride this year?”

Everyone looked over at Kon, surprised. They had gone silent, except for Bart and Tim quietly bickering over whether Tim was keeping Bart’s hair clips or not. Cassie had been looking at her phone, emailing with a client, while Kon had just been laying there, head on his crossed arms with closed eyes. They had all assumed he had fallen asleep. He was the only one actually in the sun, laying there like a freaking cat.

“Wichita pride?” Bart inquired, sitting back from Tim to face Kon, who opened an eye.

“You know of another nearby pride?”

They all exchanged looks then shrugged.

“Dunno that mom wants me to go,” Cassie confessed, with a shrug.

“Aw well fuck Helena,” Kon muttered, burying his face into his elbow. “I wanna go.”

“I’ll go with you,” Bart told him, crawling over to lay on top of Kon.

Kon just grunted and otherwise didn’t seem bothered by his added weight. Other than Tim, all of them had come out at some point or another. Bart is trans, Kon is bi, and Cassie is a lovely lil flaming lesbian. Tim wasn’t particularly forth coming on any of these types of things, but that was okay, they wouldn’t force him to tell them anything he wasn’t comfortable with or certain about. 

“Okay so a party of two, assuming Clark lets me,” Kon said, tilting his head to look at them again.

“I’ll see,” Cassie said with a shrug, looking back down to her phone.

“Tim, do you wanna come?”

This got them a shrug. “I’d have to ask Bruce,” He said softly.

“Okay, just let me know,” Kon told him with a soft smile, rolling to his side and dumping Bart onto the ground, the ginger falling with a screech.

They all just laughed at him as Kon laid on top of him and started mercilessly tickling him.

Bart and Cassie didn’t leave until nearly 4pm, and she drove him back into town to his house, getting out to hug him and wave goodbye as he ran up to the house, then she turned and walked back, getting her truck and driving back home, maybe a little slower than usual, delaying the time until she got back home and had to deal with Helena again. And when she did get back, she just called to her mom to tell her she was there and then immediately turned and headed out to the barn to do the evening chores.


	3. Chapter 3

Cassie couldn't help it. She knew she was supposed to leave the fancy city girl alone. She knew she was supposed to mind her damn business and muck stalls and work the horses. But she was walking past the indoor arena with Sundae when she heard the frustrated grumbling and the rapid thumping of hooves. She hesitated before walking over to the gate, looking over the edge and into the walled arena.

The blonde girl was working her horse on a lunge line, or that's what it looked like she was trying to do, anyway. The horse, Blue, was running around her, head in the air, his tack flopping around. 

"You dumb mule!" Cissie yelled at the horse, glaring at him, hitting her lunge whip on the ground.

The horse skidded to a stop, spinning to face her. The girl yelled at it and hit the ground hard. It actually reared up.

"Yelling ain't gonna do you no good," Cassie called, finding herself leaning on the gate. Sundae bumped her nose into Cassie.

"What do you know, ya hick!" The girl snapped back, lunging to the left and spooking the horse into running again.

Cassie just unhooked the gate and walked through, leading Sundae in and then closing it behind her.

"Sundae, stay there," she ordered, then walked closer. "Excuse me."

The horse spun to a stop, turning to look at Cassie, breathing heavy.

"Go away!" Cissie yelled. It was clear she was really frustrated.

"You ain't never lunged a horse before, have ya?" 

Cassie walked up to the horse, who snorted and backed away, she just held out her hand until his ears twitched and he looked away, then she stepped forwards and petted him.

". . . No, my trainer always did it before," the girl muttered, just soft enough that Cassie could hear her.

"Can I show you?"

"I don't need your help!"

Cassie turned to look at her, an eyebrow raising. "Sugar, you need more than just my help."

After a moment, Ms. Prissy yielded her lunge line and whip, and went and stood by the fence. Cassie walked right up to the horse.

"Back," she ordered, grabbing his reins and jiggling them slightly, while poking his chest with the butt of her whip. After a moment he yielded, backing a few steps. "Good boy."

Cassie started calmly lunging him, clicking softly, letting him toss his head and trot as crazy fast as he wanted, but on a short line. After a while he calmed down, dropping his head and lengthening his strides. 

"How did you-"

"You just gotta be calm, don't let-" Cassie paused to click and tap the ground with the whip. "Don't let him frustrate you."

Cassie lunged the horse both directions until he was completely calm, then asked him to stop, walking up and petting the huge warmblood on the shoulder. Only then she turned to the blonde.

"Are ya riding?"

"I was going to." Cissie had one of those prissy, high-pitched northern accents that Cassie hadn’t really noticed previously, but then again, they hadn’t exactly talked much.

"Can I give you a tip?"

"I feel like you're going to anyway." This was said with a deadpan, unamused expression.

"Don't ride. Just lunge him yourself for a bit and then put him up. Always end on a good note. You're mad right now, and if ya ride, yer just gonna get more mad."

She glared at Cassie, arms crossed. Cassie hadn't really noticed earlier, but she was wearing red breaches, knee high leather riding boots with laced-up fronts, and a grey polo sun shirt, she had a helmet that she was currently fiddling with, but her hair was up on a ponytail, soft blonde curls cascading down the length of hair. 

“Why do you think you know what’s best for my horse?” Cissie asked after a moment of angry glaring.

“I don’t, I just know what generally happens when you work a horse while angry. I’ve gotten dumped on my ass more times from angry ridin’ then I have from anything else.”

Cissie didn’t respond, just glared.

“But, hey, I can’t tell ya what to do with yer horse, so if ya wanna ride ‘em. Hop up on there, but you signed a liability form the same as everybody else so don’t come whining to me when ya get dumped in the dirt,” Cassie said finally, holding out the lunge line.

If Cissie wanted to act like a bitch, well, Cassie could play that game the same as she could.

"Yeah." Cissie stepped forwards to take the lunge line from Cassie.

“Good luck,” Cassie muttered, maybe a little bitterly, and then turned and walked away, picking up Sundae’s reins and leading her back out, away to untack.

They had just gotten back from riding one of the trails, making sure it was still clear and that Cassie didn’t need to come through with the UTV and a chainsaw. It was amazing the level of things she, a 18 year old was allowed to do unsupervised. She clipped Sundae into the crosstie by her stall and started untacking her, pulling off the reasonably light western saddle she usually rode in, packing everything away into the tack room before slowly beginning to brush Sundae out, making sure to get her mane and tail as well.

At some point she looked up and happened to see Cissie untacking, and smiled slightly. So the girl had ended up taking her advice. Good. It’d be better for her in the long run. Maybe she could work with the two of them on ground work and getting Blue to actually respect Cissie, because she had a feeling he didn’t. Cassie went and turned Sundae back out, letting the little horse out to run with Cracker in the pasture, the pony nickering happily and running to greet her. Cassie smiled and watched them for a second before turning and walking back inside. Cissie was gone, but Cassie didn’t think anything of it, heading into her tack room/office, plopping down at the desk and pulling up her phone so she could answer a few texts before heading back up to the house.

The slight knock at the door startled her. 

She looked up and saw Cissie standing in the doorway, jaw clenched, looking more pissed than anything. This seemed to be an expression she wore a lot.

“Hi,” Cassie greeted, turning off her phone and setting it down on the dusty desk.

“I. . . need to ask something.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Is your mom home?”

“Nope, she’s out for a race.”

Cissie swore under her breath.

“Why?”

“I need . . . fuck. I need a ride home.”

“Oh. . . Didya not drive?”

“No. My mom dropped me off on the way to the store, but she can’t come pick me up for some reason.”

“Huh,” Cassie shrugged and stood, grabbing her phone and her hat from off the desk before walking towards her. “Sure, I’ll take ya home.”

“You can drive?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Cissie didn’t say anything else, just moved so Cassie could shut and lock the door, then she led the way out of the barn, sitting down in the UTV.

“We’re taking this thing?” Cissie asked, sounding, unsurprisingly, snobby.

“No. We’re taking this thing up to the house so we can get my truck.”

“. . . oh.”

Cissie sat in the passenger seat. Cassie rolled her eyes and started up the engine, throwing it into gear and heading down the drive to the house.

“So how long have you been riding?” Cassie asked, just trying to make conversation.

“Eight or so years.”

“Wow that’s a while. Been jumping that whole time?”

“More or less.”

“Huh. . . I never could get into jumping. I prefer barrels.”

A disinterested grunt was the response. Cassie scowled at the road, but reached up and hit the garage opener that was attached to the dash, waiting for the door to go up before pulling.

“I gotta step inside and get my wallet. You want anything?”

“No,” Cissie paused, watching Cassie walk to the door. “Actually, can I use the bathroom?”

While Cissie relieved herself, Cassie washed up quickly then grabbed her wallet and a bottle of Gatorade, walking to the door into the garage to wait, texting with Bart and telling him what was going on. He was very excited about this. Cassie just laughed and rolled her eyes at the screen. Cissie came back, her blonde curly hair pulled out of her ponytail and now freely falling around her shoulders. They went and got into Cassie’s truck with very few words swapped between them. Cissie gave her a few quick instructions on how to get to her house, which happened to be on the other side of town, and then they drove in silence, other then radio softly playing in the background.

“So why’d y’all move down here?” Cassie asked finally, glancing at Cissie, who was playing with her hair while texting.

There was a long pause, and Cissie shot Cassie a nasty look, and Cassie suspected she was considering not responding.

“Just needed a change of scenery I guess.”

“Pennsylvania to Kansas is a huge change.”

“Yeah well, is that really any of your business?”

“Naw, I was just tryna make conversation, you don’t gotta be so damn salty about it.”

Cissie scoffed and stared out the window.

“Ya don’t gotta be rude or whatever, but I didn’t mean nothing by it. Maybe consider that not everyone out here is against ya and that I’m just tryna be nice and not make this place such hell for ya.”

Cassie leaned forwards and turned the radio up quickly as she stopped at the light in town. There were a couple in the whole town, but this was the only one on this specific road. They were practically exiting town again when Cissie spoke finally.

“Sorry, it’s just not something I want to talk about,” she muttered, and Cassie barely caught it over the noise of the music.

“A’ight, then I’m sorry for pushin’.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“My whole life, eighteen years.”

“Whoa, really?”

“Yes ma’am. Been riding nearly that whole time too.”

“Has your mom always owned the barn?”

“For pretty much as long as I can remember.”

Cissie made a little ‘huh’ noise and then leaned forwards to turn down the AC. Cassie glanced at her once again, and found Cissie looking at her. The other immediately glanced away.

"My house is just down this road, turn left."

Cassie slowed down as she neared the intersection, then taking the turn, glancing around. This was kind of a suburban part of town, houses still fairly close together, but with big yards and big nice rich people houses. They were mostly similar, but with a few differences in landscaping and some outdoor decorations.

"It's this one."

Cissie pointed it out, so Cassie slowed to a near stop then pulled into the driveway, and headed down to the house.

"Here, come inside and I'll give you some gas money."

"You don't have to-"

"I'm doing it. It's not my money anyway."

Cassie hesitated then shrugged and shut off the engine, getting out and following Cissie up the steps. She produced a set of keys and unlocked the front door, walking in and just heading through the house in her riding boots. Cassie would be killed for that.

"Thank you for bringing me back," Cissie was saying as she walked away.

Cassie was too busy gawking at the huge living room, dining room and open kitchen area she had walked into. It was huge, and mostly empty, lacking decoration, stacks of boxes still against the wall.

"Cassandra."

"Huh?" Cassie looked over at Cissie, who was digging around in a jar.

"Thank you."

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'm happy to help, and really, ya don't gotta pay me."

"I'm gonna," Cissie told her, producing a five dollar bill and walking over, holding it out. "Take it."

Cassie sighed and accepted it, pocketing it.

"I like ya house. Still moving in?"

"Yeah. We just haven't gotten around to unpacking."

"Makes sense. . . "

Cissie started unzipping her boots, stepping out of them before pulling off her sunshirt to show that she was just wearing a thin tank top underneath. Cassie blinked at her then looked around the house again.

"Well, uh, I guess I'll see you at the barn?"

"Yeah. See ya."

Cassie nodded and turned, walking out, shutting the door behind her and getting in her truck to head home.


	4. Chapter 4

"I don't know, Kon, it's just so weird."

"What do you mean?"

"She's just so . . . Closed off? Like, it's better than before, but she only will hold conversations if it's the most shallow topics, she won't really interact with me, she doesn't even talk to her mom. And she clearly hates riding her horse, I just don't get her."

"Then why do you keep trying?"

Cassie sighed, leaning against her saddle horn and looking down at Kon, who was busy tagging a calf.

"I dunno. I just feel drawn to her."

"You have a crush."

"I don't!"

Kon snorted, releasing the calf from between his legs and watching it go scurrying off back to it's mother. Then he turned and looked up at Cassie.

"You've known her for two weeks and you have a crush. How much do you two even talk?"

"I don't have a crush!" Cassie defended herself again. "And I mean, we chat every time we're at the barn together, which seems to be a lot…"

Kon rolled his eyes, hiking up his jeans and walking back to his gelding, looping up his lasso and pulling himself back up into the saddle.

"I mean, I get why you're attracted to her, she's gorgeous, but if she's so stand off-ish?"

"Oh, like being in love with Tim has been easy and instant."

Kon scowled at her, adjusting his hat. "Point taken."

"I just. It's not even just that I think she's pretty, she just seems so miserable. God knows if she had any friends here," Cassie told him, nudging her horse forwards.

It was a Thursday morning, and she was helping Kon rope and tag a couple new calves, which could take nearly all morning because of how big this particular pasture was. She had decided to bemoan her issues to him, because he was generally the only one she felt comfortable having a serious conversation about these types of things with.

"She probably doesn't. She moved from where?"

"I dunno, Pennsylvania I think?"

Kon made a lil huh noise, clicking to his horse and nudging it up into a trot, hurrying to catch up with the herd. Cassie followed him. They were riding two of the Kent's roping horses, because while Sundae could and has done roping, trailering her over just for this was a bit of a pain, and if there was going to be a free horse like there was today, Cassie would just use one of theirs. She was great with every horse she ever met so it worked well. 

"Well I guess keep tryna befriend her, then you can try to date her. Or I guess fast track to asking her out?"

"Kon I don't even know if she's into girls. She could be totally straight."

"Yeah, that's fair. You wanna grab that one there."

Cassie unclipped her lasso, extending it and twirling it a few times before catching a calf by the back leg. Kon swung off and walked over, carefully flipping the calf and holding it down while quickly putting on an ear tag and then giving it some vaccines.

They spent the next hour or so doing this, just working, some in silence, some chatting. Then as they were walking back, Kon spoke up randomly.

"Tim and I kissed last night."

You could have heard the snap with how fast Cassie whipped her head around.

"Excuse me?"

Kon smiled lightly, glancing up at her.

"Yeah. I was out at his house, and we were just sitting in his bed and I just-" Kon shrugged. "I kissed him."

"Did he- . . . How did he react?"

"He didn't pull away or freak out or anything. But we didn't kiss again."

"Oof."

Kon shrugged again. "It's okay. I don't. . . I dunno. It's okay."

Cassie nodded, knowing how complicated their relationship was. She so wanted it to be not complicated. She wanted to see them both happy, preferably happy together, but she knew Tim was still dealing with a lot.

"Do you wanna go get lunch in town?" Kon asked randomly, as they were unsaddling.

"Yeah, if you drive, Cornstalk."

Kon snorted, safely stashing away his tack and brushing out the horses. Once everything was done, they went inside to clean up quickly. 

"Kon, is that you?!"

Kon shot Cassie an annoyed look, but walked further into the house.

"Yeah dad?!"

"Can you come here?"

Kon left Cassie to finish cleaning up, and kick off her boots before following into the house. Dishes were stacked up in the kitchen, cereal boxes and empty cans were left out on the counter, and shoes were thrown haphazardly into the corner of the kitchen. Of all of Cassie's friends, Kon's house was probably the messiest. Bart's would have beat it, but Bart only had two people in his house, versus the four in Kon's. Cassie found Jon on the sofa, curled up in a blanket, munching a bowl of cereal while staring at the tv, which was playing some cartoon.

"Hey Jonno."

"Hi Cassie," he mumbled.

Jon was Kon's little brother. Well, half brother. He was ten, and looked like the perfect combination of Clark and Lois, messy black hair, blocky glasses, the weird, almost purple eyes that Lois had. He was a little bean pole at ten, tall for his age but skinny, all scraped knees and bruises and sunburnt ears.

"Watcha watching?" She asked.

He motioned to it. She walked around the tv stand to see  _ Steven Universe _ playing. She chuckled. 

"Where'd your brother go?"

This got her a shrug, as Jon has a spoon in his mouth. Once he pulled it out he spoke.

"Dunno, he went towards Dad's office. How was the tagging?"

Jon was sulking because he hadn't been allowed to help them, since he had gotten in trouble the other day for forgetting to do some chores before he went with Kon to the Wayne's.

"It was good. We had gross teenager talks the whole time, so I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted to be there anyway."

"Ew," Jon agreed, nodding and munching on his Cinnamon Toast Crunch again.

"Alright, let's go, Cassie."

Cassie looked over as Kon walked up beside her.

"Where are you guys going?"

"Gonna go grab some lunch, I'll be back later, and then we gotta work on record books. Where's Krypto?"

Jon shrugged. "He's somewhere. I let him in like ten minutes ago."

Kon narrowed his eyes, but shrugged.

"See ya in a bit, scout!"

"Bye, Kon!"

Cassie turned and followed Kon back out of the house.

"You driving?" She asked, going to her truck anyway to get her backpack.

"Yeah I can."

"What did Clark want?"

"Just wanted to know how many bulls there were."

"Oh."

"Yup."

They climbed into Kon's old truck that definitely needed it's muffler replaced, and started driving into town, to their favorite little diner, sitting down to order lunch, neither of them looking at the menu. Cassie got her favorite bacon cheeseburger, while Kon got a couple chili cheese dogs. They just sat there, munching in silence for a bit. 

“You should ask her out.”

“Oh my god, Kon.”

“No, I’m like, serious and stuff. Okay maybe find out if she’s into girls first, but then ask her out. Or ask her to hang out. Oh! Ask if she wants to come to the bonfire saturday night!”

Cassie glared at Kon over the top of her cheeseburger. He grinned back, putting a french fry in his mouth.

“Serious. If you’re worried about her not having friends down here, why don’t you bring her along, maybe I can befriend her, find out if she likes girls, and then get back to you.”

Cassie shook her head. “She doesn’t like Bart for some reason.”

Kon raised an eyebrow, or rather, attempted to.

“And yet you want to befriend her, where did this come from? You usually deck people who don’t like your friends.”

Cassie shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t know if she just doesn’t like Bart because she doesn’t like anyone or if she doesn’t like him because he’s him.”

“Well, what is it that Lois always says? You miss every shot you don’t take?”

“Ugh, I hate it when Lois is right.”

“Yup, isn’t she always? Do you want ice cream?”

They ended up ordering ice cream, plus some for Clark and Jon to go, and then hit the road again, heading back to Kon’s house. Jon almost immediately mugged them for his cookies and cream ice cream, and then disappeared again to return to watching his cartoons. 

“I love how grounded for Jon means he can’t go work cattle with his older brother, but instead he gets to sit inside and watch cartoons all afternoon.”

“Hey dude, he cares more about getting to do things like work cattle then he does cartoons, but he’s also not allowed to go with me to Tim’s tonight.”

“Oh, shit, I bet he was moody about that.”

“You have no idea.”

Jon was best friends with Tim’s little brother Damian, which was honestly astounding because very few people could stand Damian. Jon had other kids his age that he was also friends with, but he followed Damian around like the kid hung the moon and stars, and everyone was mildly concerned about it. It’s not that Damian was a bad kid. . . maybe a little violent and stuck up, but he didn’t cause too much trouble unprompted.

“Well, I’m gonna go, I got some stuff do to back home.”

“Alright, thanks for helping, Cass, I’ll make sure Ma and Pa pay you.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Nope, stop. They’re gonna pay you, and you know this.”

Cassie sighed and shook her head, hugging Kon quickly.

“Fine. I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Okeeeey!”

“Bye Clark! Bye Jon!”

Two very different pitched ‘Goodbye’s!’ echoed back to her from around the house. She chuckled and shoved Kon lightly before turning and walking away, heading out to her truck and driving the five minutes back to her house. They were pretty lucky that all their houses were so close together, with the exception of Bart who lived in town, but he was so used to biking that coming out to the country was barely a bother for him. Cassie could, if she wanted to, bike all the way to Tim’s in just twenty minutes, and she used to when she was little, but now she had her drivers license and there was no point in doing that.

When she got back home, Helena was, unsurprisingly, gone, so Cassie just changed and went down to the barn. Her plan was to tack up Mocha, the black gelding she was training at the moment, do some arena work, and then go out for a trail ride. But when she got into the indoor arena, she found Cissie in there, on top of her huge warmblood, smoothly cantering around the arena. Cassie hesitated at the gate, waiting until she had dropped to a trot before quickly pulling Mocha through. His name wasn’t actually Mocha, that just happened to be what Cassie had ended up nicknaming him.

“Howdy,” she called to Cissie as the girl slowed in order to pass her.

“Hi!”

Awfully cheerful for Cissie. Cassie closed the gate and walked to the center of the huge arena, checking her girth once more before pulling herself up into the saddle, adjusting her seat a few times before picking up her reins and beginning to stretch Mocha’s neck. She minded her own business, warming Mocha up at a trot before doing some of her usual drills. Only after twenty minutes did she realize Cissie had stopped and was watching her.

“Can I help ya?” Cassie asked but grinned at her to show she was messing around.

“I'm just not used to watching someone ride western,” Cissie told her, motioning towards Cassie, who had Mocha’s head and neck level as he trotted slowly around the arena.

“You’ve never- . . . have you never ridden western?”

“No. I’ve always been a jumper.”

“Man, you’ve been missing out.”

Cassie had the horse do a very sloppy rollback and immediately picked up a canter in the other direction. After a while, Cissie returned to walking around the arena, looking like one of the jockey’s up on that huge horse with her stirrups so short. She worked her horse a bit more as Cassie was in there, but for the most part just walked and watched.

You miss every shot you don’t take.

“Hey, I’m gonna take a trail ride with Mocha here, ya wanna come?” Cassie asked, slowing beside Cisse.

Cissie looked down at her, surprised.

“Or have ya never been on one of those either?”

“No- No. I’ve been on trail rides before.”

"Oh good. Come on."

Cassie turned and led the way out of the arena, hopping off to swing the gate open and hold it for Cissie, who was surprisingly following her. She led Cissie out of the barn before mounting back up and leading towards the trails. They had huge trails that led back through the woods, around a lake they shared with the neighbor, and over the creek a few times. They rode in silence for a while until they were well into the woods.

"So, some friends and I are hosting a bonfire on Saturday at my friends house. Do you wanna come?"

Cassie glanced back at Cissie, who was a bit behind her, looking around the forest quietly. She snapped her eyes up to Cassie when she spoke, looking surprised.

"Uh. . . Why?"

"Why?"

"Why are you inviting me? We're not friends."

"Maybe because I wanna become friends."

Cissie was silent for a long time, but Cassie didn’t mind, just focused on where she was going.

“So. What grade are you in?”

“I’ll be a junior.”

“Oh, Whack, you’re a grade under me.”

“Really?” Cissie pushed Blue forwards to be closer.

Cassie had to look up at her, due to the size of their horses. “Yeah. How old are you?”

“Sixteen. I’ll be seventeen later this year.”

Cassie nodded, considering this information, holding up an arm to push a branch out of her face.

“I’m eighteen already,” she told Cissie, glancing over at her.

The girl was wearing a blue tanktop today, with gray breeches and her fancy expensive boots. She always wore a helmet when she was a horse, which was reasonable, but she also used a hair net or something to pull her hair up under the helmet completely, no blonde curls visible outside of it. It occured to Cassie in that moment that she was always wearing makeup whenever Cassie saw her. Always. And it was like, 10 million degrees in Kansas.

“Are you gonna be going to the highschool then?”

“Yeah? Are there any other schools around here?”

“No, I just didn’t know if ya did some other type of school like homeschool or somethin.”

Cissie giggled lightly, shaking her head. “No. I’m not homeschooled.”

“Why’re ya laughing?”

“I like your accent, that’s all. It’s fun.”

“Well thank ya! I grew it myself.”

Cissie snorted and shook her head again, looking back ahead. Cassie was trying to figure out another conversation topic, so she stayed quiet.

“I’ll see about the bonfire.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah, my mom can be a bit. . . psycho. So no promises.”

“Well when we get back to the barn, I can give ya my phone number so you can text me if yer able to come, then I can give ya the address.”

Smooth, Sandsmark. Real smooth.

“Yeah, sure. What time?”

“Kon said seven, I think. I’ll be there earlier though.”

They chatted a bit more on their ride, finding out a little more about each other, and Cassie was beginning to discover that Cissie was actually really nice and funny, with snappy comebacks and snarky replies.

Kon would definitely like her.

When they got back to the barn, they untacked while still chatting, and Cassie ended up helping Cissie bath Blue, which resulted in spraying each other with the hose and offended screeching, and a soaked Cissie. Blue wasn’t very amused. But they packed him back in his stall, as it was already almost time for Cassie to do chores. Cissie slid the door closed behind him then turned to Cassie, grinning. This was a genuine smile, and Cassie’s little gay heart did a flip.

“Hey, I really have to go now, but I’ll see you, hopefully Saturday?” 

“Yeah, see ya!”

Cassie watched her walk out of the barn, standing there grinning to herself. Then she turned to start chores.

It appeared she had actually befriended Cissie King-Jones.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I am Back!!!! I forgot about updating this to be completely honest! Got caught in a whirlwind of life and work! But here's another chapter! I'll try to get the last one up before the end of the year!!!!

“Cassie, can you grab the cooler!”

“Yeah, I got it!”

Cassie gave a small groan as she picked up the ice cooler sitting by the back deck, turning to follow Tim and Kon across the open grass towards the fire-pit. There were already camp chairs scattered around the fire which was steadily growing inside it’s metal cage. She carried the cooler full of water and sodas to the edge of the white picnic table sitting out to one side. There were piles of food already on the table, and another cooler by the table that had food items that needed refrigerated. 

“Do y’all have s’mallo stuff?” she asked, even as she scanned the tables, and then found it.

“Yeah,” Conner called over his shoulder, setting down a bag that was full of chips and snacky type stuff.

Cassie nodded approvingly and then walked over to help Tim finish setting out a few more chairs. Over the next twenty minutes, their various guests appeared, ranging from Bart, and some of their other close friends, like Jenny Hex and Greta Hayes, to just some kids from their school that they kind of knew but weren’t terribly close with. There were about twenty to twenty five people total, Cassie didn’t really know for sure - she hadn’t paid that much attention, anyway. The guests were supposed to be there by eight, and Cassie had been so busy socializing that it wasn’t until nearly nine that she realized Cissie wasn’t there. Almost instantly she felt her mood souring, but didn’t let it bug her too much, just went to stop Bart from eating his fifth smore for the evening.

“Aww! Cassie! I was eating that!” Bart complained, pouting at her as she snatched it out of his hand, yet to be bitten.

“Yeah well you’ve had enough sugar for the evenin’. Anymore and Barry’ll have my head.”

Bart just pouted, crossing his arms and looking away, trying to garner sympathy. She just laughed and nudged him, looking around for Tim, who was sitting by himself as he cooked a hot dog. She nodded towards Tim to indicate where she was going before walking over, plopping down beside him

“Hey Tim-Tam, what’s up?”

“Hm? Oh. Hi, Cassie.” Tim offered her a soft smile then looked back at the fire.

“Hi. I thought you didn’t like hot dogs?”

“I don’t. But I’m really hungry and I’m tired of chips.”

“Hmn, sure ya aint gonna burn it?”

Tim shot her a dirty look that had her giggling. They generally didn’t trust Tim with any type of cooking past pouring cereal and milk into a bowl. He tended to burn or destroy things. Marshmallows were especially susceptible. 

“I know how to cook hot dogs, Cassie. You just kinda hold them over the fire until they’re hot. It’s not like I’m going to get food poisoning from it.”

“Well. Ya might, but it’s not that simple.” Cassie grabbed the hot dog fork from him and pulled it back, showing him the charred bottom side. “I hope ya like ash.”

Tim muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “I hate you” and then flipped over the hot dog and put it back over the fire. Kon chose that moment exactly to appear, grabbing Cassie’s arm and tugging.

“Hey, look who showed up.”

Cassie looked up and around, then her eyes landed on a blonde and she froze. Cissie had made it, and  _ oh no _ . She was wearing this cute, light pink off the shoulder romper, and light brown sandals, a jean jacket was over her arm. Her bleach blond hair was falling around her in curls, and as she got closer, Cassie could tell she was wearing makeup, with a light pink lipstick. And  _ oh no.  _

Tim and Kon were both suspiciously grinning at her and Cassie decided she hated them.

“Go say hiii,” Tim teased, letting Kon take his hot dog fork without question as he nudged Cassie.

“Oh gosh, no. I’m too gay for this.”

“Hey! You invited her, you gotta go greet your guest, show her around, introduce her to a couple people so she doesn’t feel lost,” Kon scolded, southern hospitality taking over his usual teasing demeanor. 

Cassie stood up with a hefty groan and flipped Kon off once before making her way over towards Cissie.

“Hey! Cissie!” She called, waving the girl down.

“Cassie!” 

Cissie changed directions - she had been heading for Bart - and started towards Cassie. She was grinning brightly. Cassie smiled back and stopped in front of her. Cissie also stopped and looked around.

“So this is the famous Kent farm?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Cissie giggled softly, then looked at Cassie again. “Hey, thank you for inviting me. I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah! I’m glad you could make it!”

Cissie seemed to be in a good mood. Or rather, in a better mood then she’d ever been in the whole time Cassie had known her.

“Come on, I’ll show you around!”

Cassie walked her around, introducing her to a couple people, then to Tim and Kon, who were a little overeager, but other than that polite. Then they ended up over by the foods as Cissie grabbed a soda.

“Well we have hot dogs and smores and chips and stuff,” Cassie said, vaguely waving at the table. “Help yourself to anything, and feel free to mingle and stuff.”

“Smores?”

“Yeah?”

“ . . . How much would you hate me if I said I’d never had one?”

Cassie just stared at her, then turned, grabbing a marshmallow fork and putting two on.

“I don’t care if you’re joking or not, but you’re having one now.”

Cissie laughed happily, leaning a hip into the table as she watched Cassie prep a plate with smore parts. She handed the blonde the plate and then turned and walked over to the fire, sitting down beside Bart.

“Cisse, you remember Bart?”

“Yeah! Hi, Bart!”

Cassie listened to them chat happily as she perfectly cooked marshmallows for Cissie and her. When the mallows were done, she turned and quickly assembled them, careful not to burn her fingers, and picked on up. Cissie picked the other one up and examined it before biting it, making a surprised noise as the marshmallow insides squished out. She chewed it for a bit before looking at Cassie and grinning.

“Hey, this is pretty good.”

“See! Have you genuinely never had one before?”

“No, I don’t eat a lot of sweets, and bonfires aren’t exactly a common thing up in Pennsylvania.”

“Well. I’m proud to be the one to take your Smore Virginity.”

Cissie’s eyes went wide and then she burst out laughing, bending over and clutching her S’more so she didn’t drop it. Bart also started giggling, grinning at Cassie. 

“S’more Virginity,” he repeated, shaking his head.

Cassie grinned back at the both of them, feeling oddly validated after having made both of them laugh.

She hung out with Bart and Cissie for a bit before getting called away to run up to the house and get more lemonade. As she was walking away, she glanced back and grinned to see the two still chatting. It seemed like, maybe, Cissie’s original shortness with Bart had just been a bad first impression. 

The bonfire went well into the night, and people didn’t start leaving until almost midnight. By 1:30am, it was just their close friends group, and even then Greta and Jenny were packing up to head back home. Once they were gone, and Bart and Kon were starting to slowly pick up things, Cassie turned to Cissie, who had been softly talking to Tim. It was amazing how quickly she had settled into their friend group.

“Hey, was there a time ya needed to be home?”

“Oh. Uh, no, mom doesn’t care.”

“A’ight.”

They spent the next few minutes helping clean up, taking all of the leftover food inside and putting away most of the chairs before sitting around the fire. Kon pulled out his guitar and started softly playing - he had played earlier for the party - and Cassie turned to Cissie.

“I really am glad you got to come,” she murmured softly.

Cissie smiled, turning away from where Kon was blatantly flirting with Tim as he played  _ Just To See You Smile  _ by Tim McGraw, and looking over at Cassie.

“Yeah, me too. And . . . I’m sorry I’ve been such a mega bitch. . . It’s just been hard, moving out here and all, and having mom still pushing me like crazy.”

“Yeah, I getcha. I can’t imagine it's a fun time.”

“It’s not.”

They glanced over as Tim and Bart burst out laughing. Kon just grinned and waved.

“Are they always like this?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Kon’s the instigator, though, he’ll start anything for a good laugh, pretty much.”

“Bart?”

“He’s a troublemaker, but unintentionally. He’s kinda like a little puppy.”

“That checks out. What about Tim? He’s. . . quiet?”

“He’s. . . had a rough life, but he’s a good kid. He’s really sweet once he gets comfortable around you.”

Cissie nodded and turned back forwards again. After another half an hour, she finally stood.

“Well, I should get going. Thank you guys for having me!”

“Thanks for coming, Cissie!” Kon called across the fire, waving. The other two echoed him, also waving.

“I’ll walk with ya to yer car.”

They walked back in silence, Cissie leading her over towards a car whose color Cassie couldn’t see, because, you know, 2am in the country, it’s dark. Cissie produced a set of keys from her jacket and unlocked the car, opened the front door and then leaned against it, facing Cassie, but not speaking for a moment.

“Well. I’ll see ya at the barn?”

“Yeah,” Cissie said softly, smiling just slightly.

“What?”

“Oh nothing. It’s just sweet for you to walk a girl to her car.”

“Hmm, I’d walk ya to the front door if I could.”

“Would I get a good night kiss then?”

Cissie was grinning and Cassie felt her brain stop, her heart rate instantly picking up. She might be gaping. Was her mouth open? Get it together, Cassie, this is real classy. It took a second, but she pulled herself together and smirked, leaning forwards slightly.

“Ya could have one now if ya wanted.”

This is flirting, right? This is how people flirt, right?

Cissie giggled softly, her grin only growing. 

“I’ll have to keep that in mind,” she murmured, and if it hadn’t have been so dark, Cassie would have seen the way her eyes flickered down to her lips.

“Night, Cassie.”

“Drive safe, Cissie.”

“You too.”

Cassie reached up, grabbing Cissie’s hand and squeezing it softly before stepping back.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Cissie waved slightly and then got in her car. Cassie watched her drive away.and then turned and walked back to the boys, her heart pounding. Yup. Yes sir, that was flirting. She had just been flirting with Cissie. Her little gay heart was happy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are! The final Chapter :D enjoy!!!

“Watcha doing?”

Tim startled as Cassie walked into his bedroom, and she giggled at him. She hadn’t exactly called ahead or anything, was just driving past and thought she’d stop and say hi. She had already been talking to Alfred for nearly ten minutes.

“Cassie!” He exclaimed, giving her a little pout, then shifting back to look at his laptop. 

“Hi Tim-tam. Watcha up to?”

“Playing video games.”

He motioned at his laptop. She came and plopped down beside him and looked at the screen, watching for a moment as she tried to understand what was happening. She wasn’t a video game person. She very rarely had that free time, anyway. He was playing Minecraft, it appeared, he and Bart liked to play it together, and that’s the only reason Cassie knew what it is.

“What are you doing here? I thought you had to take care of the farm all week?”

“I do. But I had to run into town to order a shipment of feed and was coming down this road and thought I’d pop in and say hi.”

“Aw,” Tim said, in a slightly teasing tone, he nudged her slightly with his elbow, but kept focusing on his game.

She watched in silence as he gamed, fingers moving swiftly across his keys and moving his mouse deftly to navigate the world. They sat there for nearly five minutes before she spoke.

“How have you been?”

“Oh. . .Uh. . . “   


Tim waited a moment until he got inside his minecraft house. Then he paused and turned to Cassie, slightly closing the lid.

“I mean. . . I’ve been okay? I kinda forget how much I hate summer.”

Cassie laughed. “What do you mean?”

“I dunno, the lack of schedule kinda makes me . . .” Tim shrugged awkwardly.

Cassie nodded and smiled. “You should help Kon on the farm more, that’ll give you a schedule.”

“Casssieeeee,” Tim whined, shooting her a look.

Cassie just laughed, bumping his shoulder. 

“How’s things with the fam?”

“Oh. It’s good. Damian’s. . . He’s been better recently. We still fight but I think we’re starting to get along better again. Jason still comes and goes a lot, but we get along well. Dick’s not been back since. . . oh god, what was it? Easter? But he’s supposed to be coming back for my birthday, so that’ll be nice.”

Cassie grinned. “That’s amazing! Have you decided what you’re going to do for it yet?”

“Naw. . . I mean, I dunno know. It’s just 18, it's not anything spectacular?”

“Naw, every birthday is spectacular. Plus! This is almost your five year anniversary with Bruce, right? You should celebrate that too!”

Tim shrugged. “Yeah I guess. I don’t know. I’ll talk with Bruce about it. It’ll probably just be the family, and maybe you guys.”

Cassie grinned at him. Tim just chuckled and shook his head.

“Do you gotta go soon?” He asked, saving his game, then closing the laptop lid.

“Oh, soon, but not for a few minutes.”

“Ah okay. . . So. You wanna talk about Cissie?”

Cassie glared. And Tim laughed. 

“What, you tease me about Kon, I don’t get to tease you about your new love interest?”

“No. Because I haven’t been pining after her for five years!”

Tim just stuck on his tongue, shaking his head even as his cheeks went pink.

“Have you seen her since the party?”

“Yeah, in passing at the barn.”

Tim raised an eyebrow, setting his laptop to the side, then moving to be laying down, head on his pillow as he looked up at Cassie. His hair was mostly in his face, and maybe a little greasy, and he looked tired, but content. 

“I don’t know, we’ve chatted, definitely flirted a bit, but like, other than that there’s not been anything interesting that helped.”

“Ah. Are you going to ask her out?”

“ . . . Should I? I kinda want to.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll ask her out when you agree to date Kon,” Cassie told him, pushing on his knee. 

He blushed again and pouted, then he closed his eyes, quiet for a moment. Cassie just looked at him, trying to get a better read on him. She was generally pretty good at telling what emotional state her friends were in. They sat there for a moment and then Cassie laid down beside him and they just laid there in silence together. Just existing in the same space, one of Tim’s fingers tapping against his duvet. Every once and awhile, they’d have little snippets of conversation, like-

“Did you watch that new true crime episode last night?”

“Yeah. I didn’t like their conclusion.”

After ten minutes, Cassie stood up, leaned down and kissed Tim on the forehead. 

“Bye, Timmy. Let me know about friday.”

“Okaaay. Bye Cassie.” Tim offered a fond smile and raised a hand to wave to her.

Cassie smiled and waved back, turning and walking out, clicking the door shut behind her before jogging downstairs. She said goodbye to Alfred quickly, just to make sure he knew she was gone, and then headed out to her truck, getting in and driving back home to get to her evening chores.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“Hey, you.”

“Oh my god!”

Cassie startled and spun around in the stall, looking up at the speaker and finding Cissie stood outside, grinning at her.

“Did I scare you?”

“Yeah, a bit!”

They both laughed a bit, then Cassie leaned a shoulder against the stall walls and tilted her head, looking at Cissie. Today she was wearing grey breaches, black riding boots and a blue tanktop, her hair pulled back into a braid.

“Hi.”

“Hi!”

“Ya jumping today?”

“Maybe? I don’t know, I don’t feel like it. Have you ridden yet?”

“No. I was going to finish this stall and then saddle up Mocha or Sundae and ride the trails.”

Cissie nodded, glancing down at the phone in her hand.

“Do you want to come?”

“Yeah, sure. Let me go grab Blue.”

Cissie turned to walk away, but Cassie stepped out into the hall.

“Hey. It’ll be a long ride, do you want to ride western instead?”

Cissie turned back to her, raising an eyebrow in question.

“I’ve never ridden western before. Blue’s only ever had an english saddle.”

“Well, Ya could ride Sundae or Cracker if ya want.”

Cissie was quiet for a moment, glancing at her stalls, then back to Cassie.

“Do you have an extra saddle I could use?”

“Yeah. Why? I wouldn’t recommend putting a western saddle on an english horse for the first time and then going on a trail.”

Cissie shook her head, hesitating for a moment. “Spud was a reining horse.”

“Wait, really!? I thought you and your mom were both english people!”

“He was my dad’s horse. He’s . . neither of us have ridden him for years, we had him on lease to a girl at our last barn for a while, but she moved away for college last fall and the only times he’s gotten worked since then is when the stable hands did it,” she explained softly, not making eye contact.

“Oh. . . “

“But I. . . I wanna ride him now that we’re out here. I don’t know shit about reining though.”

Cassie chuckled lightly. “Well I can teach you some.”

“I’ll go grab Spud then.”

Cassie watched her walk away, and turned back to finish cleaning the stall quickly. By the time she had refreshed the water, Cissie had Spud in the crossties and was brushing out his coat. Cassie quickly put away her tools and hurried out, making a split second decision to grab Sundae, leading her back up to the barn and brushing her out quickly. Then Cissie was standing there, so she helped her with the western tack, and getting Spud saddled up before tacking up her own horse.

She let Cissie into the arena and then closed the gate behind them, checking Sundae's girth once more before pulling herself up into the saddle. Cissie copied her and then sat there, fidgeting with her reins and her seat and all that.

"This is weird."

"Well you're used to havin’ to have proper posture all the time," Cassie said with a chuckle, nudging Sundae over towards Cissie. The horse easily side-passed over.

"Are your stirrups too long?" 

"I don't know? They feel a little long."

"Put your heels down. . . No, they're fine, you just gotta keep weight in them. It ain't an English saddle, Cis."

They started riding around the arena a bit, Cassie coaching Cissie on proper Western riding methods.

"Mostly, western is about being relaxed and comfortable, and I know it ain't gonna be comfy for you for a bit, but ya it takes some time."

"I kind of want to work him but it's been so long since he's been properly ridden."

"Well, if I get permission from yer mom I can start working him properly and get him back into reining condition."

"I'll ask her, I guess."

After another twenty minutes and a few rounds around the arena to get Cissie used to the western saddle, they headed out to the trails. Spud seemed fairly relaxed, if anything, a little too relaxed, dragging his feet a bit as he walked. He definitely needed worked.

“How’s it going back there?” Cassie asked, glancing back as she heard Cissie fidgeting again.

“It’s . . . very different. I don’t know that I like it.”

“I know a lot of people who’ve ridden one way their whole life have trouble switching,” Cassie said with a shrug. “But I know a lot of people who ride both, so it just takes a few times.”

“Have you ridden English?”

“Mostly for clients whose horses are english. I definitely don't prefer it.”

Cassie made a little huh noise. They chatted as they rode through the trails, and Cassie found herself laughing a lot as they went.

They ended up coming up to the lake that they shared with a neighbor, and Cassie glanced at Spud, then at Cissie.

"Does he swim?"

"What?! . . . I have no idea, you want to take them in there?"

"Why not?"

"Isn't that dangerous?"

Cassie shrugged and walked sundae over to where there was a tie post by the beach of the small lake. 

"Naw, I've been doing it for years, but we don't have to. We could just tie them up and go swim if you want."

"I don't have a swimsuit on or a towel, Sandsmark."

Cassie got off and quickly tied Sundae up with one of the ropes that were left out here for that specific purpose. Then she turned to Cissie.

"Coward.

She pulled off her shirt and walked closer to the lake before kicking off her boots and going for her belt now.

“What are you doing?” Cissie called, sounding wary.

“I’m going swimming, You coming?”

Cassie pulled off her pants and then her socks, quickly putting her hair up in a ponytail. She walked straight up to the lake and right into it, before turning to face Cissie, who was still on her horse.

“Cassie, come on, is that a good idea? We’ll be all wet. . . “

“Chickeeeeennnn,” Cassie teased, still able to touch the ground, even though she was up to her shoulders.

Cissie glared at her, and set her jaw, she swung off and marched over, tying Spud up near Sundae, but far enough that they couldn’t fight. She pulled off her helmet and then the wig-cap that held her hair up, letting it all cascade down around her shoulders.

“Fine, but look away. You don’t get to peep.”

“Aww, would I do that?” Cassie asked with a laugh, but moved so she was back floating, unable to see Cissie.

Once she heard Cissie wading into the water, she stood up, turning to see Cissie waist deep in the water. 

“Fuck! This is cold!” she protested, and then looked up at Cassie.

She was trying her hardest not to stare, but it wasn’t working very well. 

“Sandsmark. Eyes.”

“Huh? Oh-” Cassie immediately felt her face going red, and she met Cissie’s eyes.

She looked more amused then annoyed. Cassie just grinned sheepishly. 

“It ain’t that cold,” she continued, watching as Cissie got closer to her. “If this is cold to you, then you ain’t hot enough.”

There was a half of a second of pause. “Damn, didn’t think you’d be the one to say I wasn’t hot.”

Did she really just-

“Wait, I didn’t- Not to say- Oh, damn you.”

Cissie just giggled before ducking under the water to soak her hair. Cassie was ready to splash her the moment she came up and Cissie squealed, ducking away.

“Jerk!” She spluttered out, with absolutely no malice, and thus started a splash battle.

There were no victors in a splash battle, but Cassie would like to think she won, since she ended up dunking Cissie under the water, and holding her so she couldn’t get her feet down. Cissie was half laughing, half trying to keep water out of her mouth, hair plastered over her face.

“Okay! Okay!” Cissie giggled out, blindly reaching until she found Cassie’s neck and wrapped her arms around the other teen so she could hold herself up.

“You okay?” Cassie asked, adjusting her hold on Cissie to let her stand up properly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Cassie moved one hand so she could reach up and push Cissie’s hair back, careful to not tug too hard. Cissie grinned at her, successfully taking Cassie’s breath away with that one expression. They were standing just inches apart, legs touching under the water.

“Um, we should probably-”

Cassie cut off when Cissie grabbed her face and kissed her. 

There was no warning or lead up, just suddenly Cissie was kissing her, and Cassie wasted no time considering how to react, she just immediately pressed back, arms tightening around Cissie’s waist. It was a rough kiss that quickly slipped into soft and sweet, Cissie’s hands sliding back down from her face to her shoulders. Cassie pulled back first, opening her eyes to find Cissie grinning, almost looking a little nervous.

“Sorry, that was a little forwar-”

“You’re fine,” Cassie promised, blue eyes meeting equally blue eyes. 

“Thank god,” Cissie muttered. 

“So you have been flirting with me!”

“Were you really questioning that?!” Cissie laughed, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey! It’s not like I exactly get much action out here in the middle of nowhere!” Cassie exclaimed defensively.

Cissie laughed. “I suppose that’s fair.”

They just grinned at each other for a second, then Cassie glanced away, over at the horses.

“So what were you saying?

“Nothing, nothing. Nothing important anyway.”

“Oh okay.”

“Um. Can I kiss you again?”

Cissie just grinned widely, leaning in to softly kiss Cassie as a response. They stood there in the lake, kissing for a few minutes, then from the beach, a phone started ringing.

“Ugh, ew, that’s my mom,” Cissie whined, pulling away. 

Cassie watched her rush up to the beach, water streaming off her body as she emerged from the water, and Cassie made herself respectfully look away, because as attractive as Cissie was, she wasn’t in the habit of creepily staring at half naked girls. 

“Hi, mom, whats up?” Cissie’s voice carried over, she was awkwardly holding her phone away from her wet hair. 

She was silent for a moment, looking at Cassie, then she turned away, talking soft enough that Cassie could no longer hear her. With a sigh, Cassie recognized the end of their time in the lake and stood, getting out and going to where her clothes were, using her t-shirt as a towel to dry off her legs and feet, pulling back on her pants, socks and shoes.

“Yeah, okay, fine. Whatever. I’ll head back to the barn now.” Cissie hung up the phone and turned to Cassie. “I’m sorry, but mom is being a bitch and I have to go back now so I can head home.”

“Yeah, that’s okay, trust me, I get it.”

Once they were both dressed, or at least, mostly dressed, they got back on their horses and started riding back to the barn.

“Hey, Cassie.”

“Hey, Cissie.”

“Do you wanna go on a date with me?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Cissie just laughed a bit, then shook her head. “Dork. And yes I do.”

“Well, the answer is yes, I’d love to.”

When Cissie left the barn that night, it was with a bigger grin then usual, and Cassie couldn’t help but grin back, waving goodbye. 

She had to go text Bart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read! Make sure to check out Acidulication on tumblr!!
> 
> Thank you again to Binarystarkillers for betaing!
> 
> I'll see y'all around!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Kudos and Comments are so appreciated!
> 
> Thank you so much to binarystarkillers for betaing this for me, and making me translate my hick brain!! Go check out their Ao3 and Tumblr!!!!
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @queerbutstillhere and @queerbutstillhere-writes !
> 
> Thank you again for reading, and see you in the next chapter!!!!


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